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When I Find You
What do you do when someone takes advantage of your greatest weakness?
When Laura wakes up after her office Christmas party and sees a man’s shirt on the floor, she is horrified. But this is no ordinary one-night-stand regret. Laura suffers from severe face-blindness, a condition that means she is completely unable to identify and remember faces. So the man she spent all night dancing with and kissing – the man she thought she’d brought home – was ‘Pink Shirt’.
But the shirt on her floor is blue. And now Laura must go to work every day and face the man who took advantage of her condition. The man she has no way of recognising.
She doesn’t know who he is . . . but she’ll make him pay.
When Laura wakes up after her office Christmas party and sees a man’s shirt on the floor, she is horrified. But this is no ordinary one-night-stand regret. Laura suffers from severe face-blindness, a condition that means she is completely unable to identify and remember faces. So the man she spent all night dancing with and kissing – the man she thought she’d brought home – was ‘Pink Shirt’.
But the shirt on her floor is blue. And now Laura must go to work every day and face the man who took advantage of her condition. The man she has no way of recognising.
She doesn’t know who he is . . . but she’ll make him pay.
395 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 3, 2018
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1516 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 185 reviews
July 9, 2019
A highly engaging, original thriller that sees Laura, an advertising executive, waking up from a boozy Christmas party with a strange man in her bed. She figures she must know him, as he was at her office party, but he is not the man she was hanging out with, who was wearing a pink shirt. This mans shirt, flung aside by the bed, is blue. The thing is that Laura doesn't recognise either man, except by the colour of the shirts they were wearing, as Laura is face-blind. Laura can't remember peoples faces, therefore can't recognise anyone, except for subtle clues like their hair, clothes, or the way they carry themselves. She thought the only person in the office that was aware of her condition was her boss, Rebecca, but someone else has found out her secret and has used it to violate her in the worst way possible.
Laura then attempts to try to find out who her rapist is, first suspecting this person, then that one. She doesn't go to the police as she reasons they wouldn't believe her and she doesn't have any evidence anyway. She has few people she can turn to and her life starts to spiral out of control as the fear and panic catches up to her.
You have to sympathise with Laura, she feels so alone. It's hard to imagine what it would be to live with the condition of face-blindness, where you don't recognise your colleagues, your family, even your own face in the mirror. Laura's colleagues find her cold and distant, not realising it's simply because she doesn't know who she's talking to.
I found this book to be quite riveting, racing through it as the theories I made all seemed flawed, as were Laura's own. None of the conclusions I came to were right in the end, the twists, coming as shocks to me. All in all, a gripping thriller and I look forward to reading more of Emma Curtis' work in the future. Recommended for all lovers of suspense and psychological fiction.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Laura then attempts to try to find out who her rapist is, first suspecting this person, then that one. She doesn't go to the police as she reasons they wouldn't believe her and she doesn't have any evidence anyway. She has few people she can turn to and her life starts to spiral out of control as the fear and panic catches up to her.
You have to sympathise with Laura, she feels so alone. It's hard to imagine what it would be to live with the condition of face-blindness, where you don't recognise your colleagues, your family, even your own face in the mirror. Laura's colleagues find her cold and distant, not realising it's simply because she doesn't know who she's talking to.
I found this book to be quite riveting, racing through it as the theories I made all seemed flawed, as were Laura's own. None of the conclusions I came to were right in the end, the twists, coming as shocks to me. All in all, a gripping thriller and I look forward to reading more of Emma Curtis' work in the future. Recommended for all lovers of suspense and psychological fiction.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 9, 2020
Any misgivings that I have with the pacing of this thriller were outweighed by learning about the rare condition Prosopagnosia (otherwise known as Face-blindness), this cognitive disorder effects people’s abilities to identify and remember faces.
When Laura wakes up after the office Christmas party, she discovers that guy she had slept with wasn’t the person she had been kissing the previous night.
She can only differentiate people from clothing and with the T-shirt on the floor being blue, she’s alarmed as the guy she brought home was definitely wearing pink...
Seeing how Laura has to try and adapt to her condition is real insightful struggle, simple things like work colleges sitting at specific desks is a vital way of coping.
Even struggling to watch certain heavily character based shows like Game of Thrones is impossible for her.
The novel really highlights the sense of loneliness and distance she feels, Lucy doesn’t even feel comfortable telling the police as they wouldn’t take her seriously. So she takes it upon herself to find out who exactly has taken advantage of her.
It’s definitely a thought provoking rewarding tale that hopefully spreads more awareness of a unique and rare condition.
When Laura wakes up after the office Christmas party, she discovers that guy she had slept with wasn’t the person she had been kissing the previous night.
She can only differentiate people from clothing and with the T-shirt on the floor being blue, she’s alarmed as the guy she brought home was definitely wearing pink...
Seeing how Laura has to try and adapt to her condition is real insightful struggle, simple things like work colleges sitting at specific desks is a vital way of coping.
Even struggling to watch certain heavily character based shows like Game of Thrones is impossible for her.
The novel really highlights the sense of loneliness and distance she feels, Lucy doesn’t even feel comfortable telling the police as they wouldn’t take her seriously. So she takes it upon herself to find out who exactly has taken advantage of her.
It’s definitely a thought provoking rewarding tale that hopefully spreads more awareness of a unique and rare condition.
July 6, 2018
The cover of this book drew my attention, and although you can’t judge a book by its cover I thought this cover stood out!!
Laura Maguire goes to her works Christmas party and wakes up besides a stranger after a night of passion, she thought the man she had been kissing at the party was wearing a pink shirt but the guy she wakes up with has a blue shirt. The problem is Laura has face blindness, a condition I have not heard about, but does exist. I liked the concept that Laura cannot remember faces as this added a different slant to the traditional one night stand story. So who did she sleep with?
I was intrigued as to who the mystery man was, but I felt like this book won’t be everybody’s cup of tea as it did drag on a little. But persevere as the ending makes up for the slowness!!
Thank you to netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review
Laura Maguire goes to her works Christmas party and wakes up besides a stranger after a night of passion, she thought the man she had been kissing at the party was wearing a pink shirt but the guy she wakes up with has a blue shirt. The problem is Laura has face blindness, a condition I have not heard about, but does exist. I liked the concept that Laura cannot remember faces as this added a different slant to the traditional one night stand story. So who did she sleep with?
I was intrigued as to who the mystery man was, but I felt like this book won’t be everybody’s cup of tea as it did drag on a little. But persevere as the ending makes up for the slowness!!
Thank you to netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review
June 29, 2018
When I Find You is one of a few new releases I have on my Kindle dealing with face-blindness, or to give it its proper name, Prosopagnosia. Although I had vaguely heard of it, until I started reading this book, I really had no concept of how difficult life is for sufferers. Imagine not being able to recognise a loved one, a friend, or even your own face.
In When I Find You, Emma Curtis has created a character in Laura that I could feel so much empathy for. Laura is face blind and works for an advertising agency as a creative director, a job which does require a lot of socialising – and which for obvious reasons she dreads. There is only one person at the agency who knows of her condition and that is her boss, Rebecca. I did initially wonder why you wouldn’t let colleagues know about your condition rather than let them think you were aloof or rude, when you appeared to ignore them but then I realised that Laura’s reasons for keeping it a secret from people in general were quite justified; for your own safety, the fewer people that know of your inability to recognise them, the better.
Laura has some coping mechanisms she finds useful – she relies on unusual facial features where possible or mannerisms, hair colour, or even clothing. For example when she attends the office Christmas party she knows that the colleague she was dancing with and kissing had a pink shirt. So why did she wake up in the morning in her flat with a man wearing a blue shirt.
It’s fair to say that Laura was quite drunk at the time however when she realised she had been tricked she felt angry, abused and humiliated. Determined to find out who had taken advantage of her, she decides by a process of elimination to try and flush out the person, however unknown to her, her methods of detection have unexpected and dangerous consequences.
Without going into spoiler territory and giving away any major plot details, Emma Curtis has created an engrossing story, highlighting a condition which is possibly relatively unknown but nonetheless is extremely debilitating and traumatic to sufferers. Laura knows that because of her condition, she is regarded as an unreliable witness and any official complaint most probably wouldn’t be taken seriously.
The story is narrated in alternating chapters by Laura, in the first person and Rebecca in the third. At first I couldn’t understand why Rebecca was given her own chapters when to be honest she wasn’t a particularly interesting character but all did become clearer later in the book when various strands are bought together.
I enjoyed reading When I Find You and using the concept of face blindness as a plot device adds that extra dimension to the suspense as in this story, the reader is as much in the dark as the protagonist. We only see events from her perspective and there were times when I wasn’t sure if she was being entirely honest in her narration. I had the impression that the author had done her research into face blindness and hadn’t just gratuitously plotted a story around it as the difficulties faced by sufferers felt authentic and sympathetic. As the main character, Laura was the one person we got to know the most and there were a few times when I was frustrated by some of her decisions and thinking ‘why did you do that’ when you just know that something is not going to end well!
When I Find You is an intriguing and suspenseful read with plenty of twists and surprises leading to a dramatic conclusion – definitely recommended.
In When I Find You, Emma Curtis has created a character in Laura that I could feel so much empathy for. Laura is face blind and works for an advertising agency as a creative director, a job which does require a lot of socialising – and which for obvious reasons she dreads. There is only one person at the agency who knows of her condition and that is her boss, Rebecca. I did initially wonder why you wouldn’t let colleagues know about your condition rather than let them think you were aloof or rude, when you appeared to ignore them but then I realised that Laura’s reasons for keeping it a secret from people in general were quite justified; for your own safety, the fewer people that know of your inability to recognise them, the better.
Laura has some coping mechanisms she finds useful – she relies on unusual facial features where possible or mannerisms, hair colour, or even clothing. For example when she attends the office Christmas party she knows that the colleague she was dancing with and kissing had a pink shirt. So why did she wake up in the morning in her flat with a man wearing a blue shirt.
It’s fair to say that Laura was quite drunk at the time however when she realised she had been tricked she felt angry, abused and humiliated. Determined to find out who had taken advantage of her, she decides by a process of elimination to try and flush out the person, however unknown to her, her methods of detection have unexpected and dangerous consequences.
Without going into spoiler territory and giving away any major plot details, Emma Curtis has created an engrossing story, highlighting a condition which is possibly relatively unknown but nonetheless is extremely debilitating and traumatic to sufferers. Laura knows that because of her condition, she is regarded as an unreliable witness and any official complaint most probably wouldn’t be taken seriously.
The story is narrated in alternating chapters by Laura, in the first person and Rebecca in the third. At first I couldn’t understand why Rebecca was given her own chapters when to be honest she wasn’t a particularly interesting character but all did become clearer later in the book when various strands are bought together.
I enjoyed reading When I Find You and using the concept of face blindness as a plot device adds that extra dimension to the suspense as in this story, the reader is as much in the dark as the protagonist. We only see events from her perspective and there were times when I wasn’t sure if she was being entirely honest in her narration. I had the impression that the author had done her research into face blindness and hadn’t just gratuitously plotted a story around it as the difficulties faced by sufferers felt authentic and sympathetic. As the main character, Laura was the one person we got to know the most and there were a few times when I was frustrated by some of her decisions and thinking ‘why did you do that’ when you just know that something is not going to end well!
When I Find You is an intriguing and suspenseful read with plenty of twists and surprises leading to a dramatic conclusion – definitely recommended.
November 19, 2024
What drew me to this book was the cover. It looked very promising. It was ok although I could quite easily put it down and come back to it.
August 10, 2018
'When I Find You' is the second novel from crime writer Emma Curtis and follows her widely acclaimed debut 'One Little Mistake' into the thriller genre. Both books owe a lot to Curtis's fascination with the darker side of life.
Advertising executive Laura wakes up from an alcohol-laden christmas party with an unknown man in her bed. She assumes she must know him, as he attended the office party with her, but he is not the guy she thought she left with who was wearing a pink shirt, and the shirt on her bedroom floor is blue. Laura uses these methods to distinguish between people because she suffers from Prosopagnosia or face-blindness. The only person she has made aware of her medical condition is her boss, Rebecca, but someone else has found out her secret and used her condition against her in the worst possible way. She then attempts to discover exactly who her rapist is but with limited information she wonders if she'll ever be able to achieve justice or whether a dangerous rapist who prays on the vulnerable will get away with his sickening assault and will be emboldened as a result
In a bid to create an original premise and stand out in an industry full to the brim with overused ideas, I have noticed crime writers using medical conditions as a basis for their story ('The Date' by Louise Jensen is just on example). Unfortunately, with the vast amount of reading I do from this genre, this is also becoming a concept that is no longer unique. In fact, this almost mirrors a book I read recently that had the exact same storyline with only a few minor details changed. I understand that those who don't have the pleasure of reading crime fiction as much as they'd like to view this as an original plot but it isn't, i'm afraid. That said, I did enjoy this book, but a substantial amount of what went on was very far-fetched and lacked serious believability. However, Curtis is good at making you feel for Laura, as she endures a special kind of hell, and the writing style makes the story easy-to-follow. There were also some fantastic twists that I didn't predict.
Many thanks to Black Swan for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Advertising executive Laura wakes up from an alcohol-laden christmas party with an unknown man in her bed. She assumes she must know him, as he attended the office party with her, but he is not the guy she thought she left with who was wearing a pink shirt, and the shirt on her bedroom floor is blue. Laura uses these methods to distinguish between people because she suffers from Prosopagnosia or face-blindness. The only person she has made aware of her medical condition is her boss, Rebecca, but someone else has found out her secret and used her condition against her in the worst possible way. She then attempts to discover exactly who her rapist is but with limited information she wonders if she'll ever be able to achieve justice or whether a dangerous rapist who prays on the vulnerable will get away with his sickening assault and will be emboldened as a result
In a bid to create an original premise and stand out in an industry full to the brim with overused ideas, I have noticed crime writers using medical conditions as a basis for their story ('The Date' by Louise Jensen is just on example). Unfortunately, with the vast amount of reading I do from this genre, this is also becoming a concept that is no longer unique. In fact, this almost mirrors a book I read recently that had the exact same storyline with only a few minor details changed. I understand that those who don't have the pleasure of reading crime fiction as much as they'd like to view this as an original plot but it isn't, i'm afraid. That said, I did enjoy this book, but a substantial amount of what went on was very far-fetched and lacked serious believability. However, Curtis is good at making you feel for Laura, as she endures a special kind of hell, and the writing style makes the story easy-to-follow. There were also some fantastic twists that I didn't predict.
Many thanks to Black Swan for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
July 4, 2018
I was a huge fan of Emma Curtis’s first book, One Little Mistake, so was very excited and a little nervous to read her second offering. I needn’t have worried as When I find you is just as good, if not better than her first book!
The story is told from the point of view of Laura and Rebecca her boss. When it first switched to Rebecca I did find it very intriguing and immediately wondered why? Rebecca isn’t a particularly likeable character, being quite mean to Laura at times so I was very curious as to why her story was being told. Laura is a very likeable, but niave character that I felt a lot of empathy for. Face blindness must be a very difficult thing to live with. I am very short sighted and struggle to see distinguishing features without my glasses so I can only imagine how it must be to have that all the time. Her coping strategies were very poignant to read about and I found it very interesting to learn about the little differences in people that Laura uses to identify people. There was something about Laura that I wasn’t completely sure of as some parts of her narrative didn’t ring true. Why for example did she refused to let her work colleagues know about her condition when surely that would have helped her?
When I find you is quite a fast paced, intriguing novel that I raced through in a couple of days. The story is perfectly paced with little snippets of the truth coming out at intervals, leaving the reader with plenty of time to piece together the clues themselves. There were lots of twists and turns which kept me guessing and reading as I wanted to work out what was happening!
This is Emma Curtis’s second book and I very much look forward to reading more from her in the future. Huge thanks to the Cater and Transworld publishers for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
The story is told from the point of view of Laura and Rebecca her boss. When it first switched to Rebecca I did find it very intriguing and immediately wondered why? Rebecca isn’t a particularly likeable character, being quite mean to Laura at times so I was very curious as to why her story was being told. Laura is a very likeable, but niave character that I felt a lot of empathy for. Face blindness must be a very difficult thing to live with. I am very short sighted and struggle to see distinguishing features without my glasses so I can only imagine how it must be to have that all the time. Her coping strategies were very poignant to read about and I found it very interesting to learn about the little differences in people that Laura uses to identify people. There was something about Laura that I wasn’t completely sure of as some parts of her narrative didn’t ring true. Why for example did she refused to let her work colleagues know about her condition when surely that would have helped her?
When I find you is quite a fast paced, intriguing novel that I raced through in a couple of days. The story is perfectly paced with little snippets of the truth coming out at intervals, leaving the reader with plenty of time to piece together the clues themselves. There were lots of twists and turns which kept me guessing and reading as I wanted to work out what was happening!
This is Emma Curtis’s second book and I very much look forward to reading more from her in the future. Huge thanks to the Cater and Transworld publishers for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.
August 5, 2018
When I Find You by Emma Curtis sounded like the kind of book that I would really enjoy.. unfortunately it just was not for me. It took a very long time to get into the story and by then I had lost interest. It just was not for me, but a lot of people are raving about it.
The story of Laura who suffers from face blindness so she does not remember or recognise faces. When she leaves her works Christmas party with the wrong man she believes that she has been taken advantage of. It is told from different Points of view but for me it was just too slow.
Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishing, Black Swan and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased
The story of Laura who suffers from face blindness so she does not remember or recognise faces. When she leaves her works Christmas party with the wrong man she believes that she has been taken advantage of. It is told from different Points of view but for me it was just too slow.
Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishing, Black Swan and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased
July 10, 2018
I liked the brilliance of the plot. I like the convoluted roadway to the identity. I liked the anger and suspense of the situation. I liked the helplessness and fear of the main character. I liked the moral dilemma which the concept threw out.
Laura goes home with a man wearing a pink shirt after a night of drinks, enjoys the love making the whole night, till the next day morning shows a blue shirt on the floor.
Why is the color of shirt significant?
Laura has face blindness, prosopagnosia, and now she has no idea whom she spent the night with.
Was it rape?
She did enjoy her time with him but he was not whom she wanted to be with. The mind and body said it was abuse. It was trickery. It was taking advantage. It was someone knowing her condition and making use of that knowledge to get his way.
Was it rape?
This was my first book by Emma Curtis, and I loved the way the main character struggled with her condition, the fear she felt knowing it was one of her colleagues at work who raped her and was now threatening her.
How was anyone to cope with such a condition where you didn't remember anything about the rapist? And would the cops believe it to be rape?
Everything was a jigsaw puzzle for Laura, and it was nothing short of a herculean task to make them fit or even to know how to make them fit. Laura trying to maintain her mental balance with work, the harassment notes, the new project, trying to identify the colleagues by their desks/cubicles/hair style/clothes, and FINDING OUT WHO RAPED HER!!
The last 30% went on a different track with everyone losing their sanity. Too many things happened at once. From rape to kidnapping to torture to peeing in the diaper to attempted murder to madness and mayhem
The author did bring the reader back to the main plot with the ending, which was great.
A lovely way to spend the Monday morning!!
Laura goes home with a man wearing a pink shirt after a night of drinks, enjoys the love making the whole night, till the next day morning shows a blue shirt on the floor.
Why is the color of shirt significant?
Laura has face blindness, prosopagnosia, and now she has no idea whom she spent the night with.
Was it rape?
She did enjoy her time with him but he was not whom she wanted to be with. The mind and body said it was abuse. It was trickery. It was taking advantage. It was someone knowing her condition and making use of that knowledge to get his way.
Was it rape?
This was my first book by Emma Curtis, and I loved the way the main character struggled with her condition, the fear she felt knowing it was one of her colleagues at work who raped her and was now threatening her.
How was anyone to cope with such a condition where you didn't remember anything about the rapist? And would the cops believe it to be rape?
Everything was a jigsaw puzzle for Laura, and it was nothing short of a herculean task to make them fit or even to know how to make them fit. Laura trying to maintain her mental balance with work, the harassment notes, the new project, trying to identify the colleagues by their desks/cubicles/hair style/clothes, and FINDING OUT WHO RAPED HER!!
The last 30% went on a different track with everyone losing their sanity. Too many things happened at once. From rape to kidnapping to torture to peeing in the diaper to attempted murder to madness and mayhem
The author did bring the reader back to the main plot with the ending, which was great.
A lovely way to spend the Monday morning!!
September 6, 2018
I've read a few books featuring face blindness this year - this was one of the more interesting ones because it threw up an interesting moral dilemma.
Im not sure I can imagine never being able to recognise people no matter how many times I see them, in Laura's case she doesn't realise when one man has become another...the book basically see's her trying to discover who came home with her that night and dealing with the realisation that she has been tricked in the worst of ways.
It's an interesting take on the consent issue, plus you get the typically fascinating twists and turns of a psychological thriller which makes this highly readable and I very much enjoyed it.
Im not sure I can imagine never being able to recognise people no matter how many times I see them, in Laura's case she doesn't realise when one man has become another...the book basically see's her trying to discover who came home with her that night and dealing with the realisation that she has been tricked in the worst of ways.
It's an interesting take on the consent issue, plus you get the typically fascinating twists and turns of a psychological thriller which makes this highly readable and I very much enjoyed it.
November 10, 2018
Well-researched & tightly plotted thriller on the subject of face-blindness & the grey area of sexual consent.
When I read the premise and saw that When I Find You tackled the concept of face-blindness (prosopagnosia) and utilises a plot device which has a tendency to be regarded as a gimmick, I certainly wasn’t anticipating being as impressed as I was. In fact the novel makes for a informative and thought-provoking look at a condition that is often misunderstood and overlays this story with a gritty exploration of the grey area of consent. Narrated by two superbly well-realised female characters with whom the reader can empathise, what the novel lacks in obvious tension from the get-go is more than made up for with an assured look at their entwined personal dilemmas and an emotionally involving storyline.
The novel opens with a very hungover twenty-eight-year-old, Laura Maguire, waking up on the morning after her office Christmas party and wondering just whom the strange man she has spent the night with actually is. Remembering a euphoric night spent dancing with a man in a pink shirt, the sight of a blue shirt on the bedroom floor and her surly bedfellow making an abrupt exit without identifying himself strikes fear into her heart. The shocking realisation that she consented to sex under the impression that his identity was that of Mr Pink Shirt when in fact it was someone else entirely brings Laura’s fragile existence to breaking point, all with the uncomfortable knowledge that she consented, participated and actually enjoyed her night. By tacking an subject matter that could be treated melodramatically (face-blindness) with the contentious topic of consent, Emma Curtis poses the intriguing question as to whether knowledge, or a suspicion of Laura’s condition, is tantamount to an admittance of guilt by Mr Blue Shirt.
The story then tracks back to see the build-up to this event by someone whom Laura presumes is a colleague with the background on her career as part of a highly rated creative partnership within the elite Gunner Munro advertising agency, co-owned and managed by the charismatic and married family man, David Gunner and his dedicated university friend, Rebecca Munro. Three years living in London and working for the company has seen Laura get by with her social inadequacy largely forgiven thanks to having delivered the goods in her work. Although her colleagues regard her as slightly standoffish, her female boss, Rebecca, is the only person outside of her close family in whom she has confided her condition.
As Laura’s humiliation and anger about being taken advantage of and violated grows as the days pass she fails to report the attack for fear of being laughed off and instead decides to deliver her own form of payback for the paranoia and fear she is experiencing. The hit-and-run death of a cyclist colleague and work pressure from a important new pitch exacerbate her mental anxiety, with Laura beginning a covert scheme to smoke out the guilty party using a process of elimination designed to hurt her target without making her own life worse. A dangerous game for sure and when her attackers identity becomes a little clearer, one with potentially drastic consequences. Alongside a narrative that is predominantly comprised of Laura’s first-person turmoil are interspersed third-person accounts of Rebecca Munro’s personal dilemmas on her seven-year love affair with a married man, her desire for a child and the increasingly concerning behaviour amongst several of her staff. As both Laura and Rebecca begin to gain a clearer idea of what is going on in the lives of each other, the suspicion that they are both honing in on the same man leaves each facing a raft of questions with the other’s actions impacting on not only their target, but each other. Although the focus is always centred on Laura’s misfortunes, her hunt for a predator and the encroaching sense of threat playing havoc with her life, I was every bit as fascinated by Rebecca’s situation and what is a relatively common predicament for many middle-aged career women. Admittedly why they are tacked onto each other isn’t entirely obvious from the get-go, but rest assured that they do merge to present a more complete look inside a toxic company culture.
One obvious plus is the fact that neither Laura or Rebecca lack total common sense and although they both make questionable decisions at times their mistakes are both relatable and understandable. When I Find You unravelled into a far meatier novel that I could ever have imagined with a timely look at the issue of consent, the question of rape and the difficulty of proving guilt. Emma Curtis does a fine job in making the issue of prosopagnosia accessible and the impact it can have on an individuals life painfully clear. The confirmation that is has nothing to do with poor memory but is all a matter of how the brain receives and processes visual information, with very few experiencing it at its most profound level (failing to recognise family and even their own reflection), and with training programmes to improve the condition only at a formative stage.
Well-written and insightful prose stops short of the novel ever becoming preachy and it makes for a memorable read which probes our responsibilities to sufferers, how they are perceived and their reliability as credible witnesses. Curtis excels at treating the subject matter with sympathy and her well formulated plot is underpinned by strong characters. Obviously well-researched, Curtis takes time to flesh out the character of Laura and showing her coping strategies which have allowed her to live a relatively normal life apparent, from her use of distinctive features, ethnicity, gait, context and memorable mannerisms in order to catalogue the people she encounters regularly. Secretive about her condition for fear of leaving herself open to being taken advantage I could sympathise with Laura’s plight, and her heightened sense of vulnerability which makes it hard to conduct a normal life and prevents her from socialising with colleagues and meeting a partner. That these barriers are a by-product of the walls she surrounds herself with in order to protect herself is made readily apparent with her experiences having taught her not to be unashamed of her condition and unwilling to absolve the insensitive behaviour of those who demonstrate little respect for her boundaries.
A character-driven psychological thriller that gathers suspense as the story progresses with some unforeseen and deftly handed twists and a heart-stopping finale making for a thrilling story that more than delivers. A last gasp twist tied the story together admirably and resolved the only lingering question that remained for me. Genuine emotional depth and a memorably original plot leave me keen to read more of Emma Curtis’ work and I now intend to seek out her favourably received debut, One Little Mistake. A satisfying and tightly plotted psychological thriller in a crowded genre where the overall quality continues to deteriorate. Highly recommended.
When I read the premise and saw that When I Find You tackled the concept of face-blindness (prosopagnosia) and utilises a plot device which has a tendency to be regarded as a gimmick, I certainly wasn’t anticipating being as impressed as I was. In fact the novel makes for a informative and thought-provoking look at a condition that is often misunderstood and overlays this story with a gritty exploration of the grey area of consent. Narrated by two superbly well-realised female characters with whom the reader can empathise, what the novel lacks in obvious tension from the get-go is more than made up for with an assured look at their entwined personal dilemmas and an emotionally involving storyline.
The novel opens with a very hungover twenty-eight-year-old, Laura Maguire, waking up on the morning after her office Christmas party and wondering just whom the strange man she has spent the night with actually is. Remembering a euphoric night spent dancing with a man in a pink shirt, the sight of a blue shirt on the bedroom floor and her surly bedfellow making an abrupt exit without identifying himself strikes fear into her heart. The shocking realisation that she consented to sex under the impression that his identity was that of Mr Pink Shirt when in fact it was someone else entirely brings Laura’s fragile existence to breaking point, all with the uncomfortable knowledge that she consented, participated and actually enjoyed her night. By tacking an subject matter that could be treated melodramatically (face-blindness) with the contentious topic of consent, Emma Curtis poses the intriguing question as to whether knowledge, or a suspicion of Laura’s condition, is tantamount to an admittance of guilt by Mr Blue Shirt.
The story then tracks back to see the build-up to this event by someone whom Laura presumes is a colleague with the background on her career as part of a highly rated creative partnership within the elite Gunner Munro advertising agency, co-owned and managed by the charismatic and married family man, David Gunner and his dedicated university friend, Rebecca Munro. Three years living in London and working for the company has seen Laura get by with her social inadequacy largely forgiven thanks to having delivered the goods in her work. Although her colleagues regard her as slightly standoffish, her female boss, Rebecca, is the only person outside of her close family in whom she has confided her condition.
As Laura’s humiliation and anger about being taken advantage of and violated grows as the days pass she fails to report the attack for fear of being laughed off and instead decides to deliver her own form of payback for the paranoia and fear she is experiencing. The hit-and-run death of a cyclist colleague and work pressure from a important new pitch exacerbate her mental anxiety, with Laura beginning a covert scheme to smoke out the guilty party using a process of elimination designed to hurt her target without making her own life worse. A dangerous game for sure and when her attackers identity becomes a little clearer, one with potentially drastic consequences. Alongside a narrative that is predominantly comprised of Laura’s first-person turmoil are interspersed third-person accounts of Rebecca Munro’s personal dilemmas on her seven-year love affair with a married man, her desire for a child and the increasingly concerning behaviour amongst several of her staff. As both Laura and Rebecca begin to gain a clearer idea of what is going on in the lives of each other, the suspicion that they are both honing in on the same man leaves each facing a raft of questions with the other’s actions impacting on not only their target, but each other. Although the focus is always centred on Laura’s misfortunes, her hunt for a predator and the encroaching sense of threat playing havoc with her life, I was every bit as fascinated by Rebecca’s situation and what is a relatively common predicament for many middle-aged career women. Admittedly why they are tacked onto each other isn’t entirely obvious from the get-go, but rest assured that they do merge to present a more complete look inside a toxic company culture.
One obvious plus is the fact that neither Laura or Rebecca lack total common sense and although they both make questionable decisions at times their mistakes are both relatable and understandable. When I Find You unravelled into a far meatier novel that I could ever have imagined with a timely look at the issue of consent, the question of rape and the difficulty of proving guilt. Emma Curtis does a fine job in making the issue of prosopagnosia accessible and the impact it can have on an individuals life painfully clear. The confirmation that is has nothing to do with poor memory but is all a matter of how the brain receives and processes visual information, with very few experiencing it at its most profound level (failing to recognise family and even their own reflection), and with training programmes to improve the condition only at a formative stage.
Well-written and insightful prose stops short of the novel ever becoming preachy and it makes for a memorable read which probes our responsibilities to sufferers, how they are perceived and their reliability as credible witnesses. Curtis excels at treating the subject matter with sympathy and her well formulated plot is underpinned by strong characters. Obviously well-researched, Curtis takes time to flesh out the character of Laura and showing her coping strategies which have allowed her to live a relatively normal life apparent, from her use of distinctive features, ethnicity, gait, context and memorable mannerisms in order to catalogue the people she encounters regularly. Secretive about her condition for fear of leaving herself open to being taken advantage I could sympathise with Laura’s plight, and her heightened sense of vulnerability which makes it hard to conduct a normal life and prevents her from socialising with colleagues and meeting a partner. That these barriers are a by-product of the walls she surrounds herself with in order to protect herself is made readily apparent with her experiences having taught her not to be unashamed of her condition and unwilling to absolve the insensitive behaviour of those who demonstrate little respect for her boundaries.
A character-driven psychological thriller that gathers suspense as the story progresses with some unforeseen and deftly handed twists and a heart-stopping finale making for a thrilling story that more than delivers. A last gasp twist tied the story together admirably and resolved the only lingering question that remained for me. Genuine emotional depth and a memorably original plot leave me keen to read more of Emma Curtis’ work and I now intend to seek out her favourably received debut, One Little Mistake. A satisfying and tightly plotted psychological thriller in a crowded genre where the overall quality continues to deteriorate. Highly recommended.
September 29, 2019
The story then tracks back to see the build-up to this event by someone whom Laura presumes is a colleague with the background on her career as part of a highly rated creative partnership within the elite Gunner Munro advertising agency, co-owned and managed by the charismatic and married family man, David Gunner and his dedicated university friend, Rebecca Munro. Three years living in London and working for the company has seen Laura get by with her social inadequacy largely forgiven thanks to having delivered the goods in her work. Although her colleagues regard her as slightly standoffish, her female boss, Rebecca, is the only person outside of her close family in whom she has confided her condition.
As Laura’s humiliation and anger about being taken advantage of and violated grows as the days pass she fails to report the attack for fear of being laughed off and instead decides to deliver her own form of payback for the paranoia and fear she is experiencing. The hit-and-run death of a cyclist colleague and work pressure from a important new pitch exacerbate her mental anxiety, with Laura beginning a covert scheme to smoke out the guilty party using a process of elimination designed to hurt her target without making her own life worse. A dangerous game for sure and when her attackers identity becomes a little clearer, one with potentially drastic consequences. Alongside a narrative that is predominantly comprised of Laura’s first-person turmoil are interspersed third-person accounts of Rebecca Munro’s personal dilemmas on her seven-year love affair with a married man, her desire for a child and the increasingly concerning behaviour amongst several of her staff. As both Laura and Rebecca begin to gain a clearer idea of what is going on in the lives of each other, the suspicion that they are both honing in on the same man leaves each facing a raft of questions with the other’s actions impacting on not only their target, but each other. Although the focus is always centred on Laura’s misfortunes, her hunt for a predator and the encroaching sense of threat playing havoc with her life, I was every bit as fascinated by Rebecca’s situation and what is a relatively common predicament for many middle-aged career women. Admittedly why they are tacked onto each other isn’t entirely obvious from the get-go, but rest assured that they do merge to present a more complete look inside a toxic company culture.
As Laura’s humiliation and anger about being taken advantage of and violated grows as the days pass she fails to report the attack for fear of being laughed off and instead decides to deliver her own form of payback for the paranoia and fear she is experiencing. The hit-and-run death of a cyclist colleague and work pressure from a important new pitch exacerbate her mental anxiety, with Laura beginning a covert scheme to smoke out the guilty party using a process of elimination designed to hurt her target without making her own life worse. A dangerous game for sure and when her attackers identity becomes a little clearer, one with potentially drastic consequences. Alongside a narrative that is predominantly comprised of Laura’s first-person turmoil are interspersed third-person accounts of Rebecca Munro’s personal dilemmas on her seven-year love affair with a married man, her desire for a child and the increasingly concerning behaviour amongst several of her staff. As both Laura and Rebecca begin to gain a clearer idea of what is going on in the lives of each other, the suspicion that they are both honing in on the same man leaves each facing a raft of questions with the other’s actions impacting on not only their target, but each other. Although the focus is always centred on Laura’s misfortunes, her hunt for a predator and the encroaching sense of threat playing havoc with her life, I was every bit as fascinated by Rebecca’s situation and what is a relatively common predicament for many middle-aged career women. Admittedly why they are tacked onto each other isn’t entirely obvious from the get-go, but rest assured that they do merge to present a more complete look inside a toxic company culture.
February 9, 2019
Utterly fascinating, believe it or not for a psychological thriller, I feel as though I have come out of this book a lot smarter than when I went into it.
Or at least I have a far better understanding of face blindness - and what a severe sufferer of it would be going through, such as Laura our main character.
Laura can't recognise faces at all, she can't typically even recognise her own mother, let alone whether the man she had been dancing with at a Christmas party, is the same one she goes home with. She uses other distinguishing features about a person - and is absolutely horrified when her pink shirted dance partner turns into a blue shirted man she had sex with.
Now this is where it gets tricky, as it was consensual, she just didn't realise at the time due to the condition that it wasn't the man she thought she was consenting too - which is absolutely terrifying.
What Laura is sure of is that she won't let whoever it is get away with it - so long as she can work out just who she was in bed with.
So we have Laura's story and running alongside it, Rebecca's. Rebecca is Laura's boss and doesn't seem like the nicest of women. Her story isn't as compelling but still interesting to read, especially as you get to see some things from multiple perspectives.
Whenever I wasn't reading this, it was playing on my mind. which is the sign of a good book, and the last I'm not sure how much it was, but I couldn't put it down. I was completely engrossed and hooked on just how everything would resolve itself.
This is the second book I've now read from Emma Curtis and I'm already eager to see what her next will be. Clearly my love of her first wasn't a fluke and she is now definitely an author I want to keep reading.
Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
Or at least I have a far better understanding of face blindness - and what a severe sufferer of it would be going through, such as Laura our main character.
Laura can't recognise faces at all, she can't typically even recognise her own mother, let alone whether the man she had been dancing with at a Christmas party, is the same one she goes home with. She uses other distinguishing features about a person - and is absolutely horrified when her pink shirted dance partner turns into a blue shirted man she had sex with.
Now this is where it gets tricky, as it was consensual, she just didn't realise at the time due to the condition that it wasn't the man she thought she was consenting too - which is absolutely terrifying.
What Laura is sure of is that she won't let whoever it is get away with it - so long as she can work out just who she was in bed with.
So we have Laura's story and running alongside it, Rebecca's. Rebecca is Laura's boss and doesn't seem like the nicest of women. Her story isn't as compelling but still interesting to read, especially as you get to see some things from multiple perspectives.
Whenever I wasn't reading this, it was playing on my mind. which is the sign of a good book, and the last I'm not sure how much it was, but I couldn't put it down. I was completely engrossed and hooked on just how everything would resolve itself.
This is the second book I've now read from Emma Curtis and I'm already eager to see what her next will be. Clearly my love of her first wasn't a fluke and she is now definitely an author I want to keep reading.
Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
July 5, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed Emma Curtis’ previous book, One Little Mistake, so I was eagerly awaiting her next offering and I can already tell you I was not disappointed.
After an office Christmas party, Laura wakes up next to a man she’s spent a wonderfully steamy night with. She doesn’t know his name and realises perfectly well she won’t recognise his face. Because Laura has a condition called Prosopagnosia, or face blindness. A condition that sounds rather out there but it’s however a very real thing. At least Laura remembers her bed companion was wearing a pink shirt. Except, the shirt she finds on the floor is blue. Who is this stranger? Before Laura has a chance to find out, the man runs from her flat and now Laura must return to work every day with the knowledge someone took advantage of her condition. How will she find out who he is?
I can’t even begin to imagine how frightening this must be. Laura has multiple coping mechanisms to try and figure out who she’s talking to but they tend to fail when the environment changes. For instance, she’d recognise a colleague at work because of the desk they’re sitting at but wouldn’t know who they are if they were to bump into each other at the supermarket. While I would just look at a face and instantly know who is in front of me, Laura focuses on hair colour, gait and distinctive marks like tattoos. But none of those little tricks are helping her find out who took advantage of her. There’s obviously a bit of a list of suspects. It could be anyone and just like Laura, I was left in the dark as to their identity until the end.
The story is told through alternating chapters, switching between Laura and her boss Rebecca. Apart from Laura’s family, Rebecca is the only one who knows about Laura’s condition. Introducing Rebecca to the story immediately felt incredibly intriguing as I couldn’t at all guess at the part she would play. She’s not really a likeable person but as a plot device, she does help the story along and things will soon make a lot more sense.
Just like the author’s previous book, When I Find You is quite thought-provoking. A tense and realistic scenario that constantly makes you wonder what you would do. Emma Curtis has obviously done her research and I felt she truly managed to show what living with this condition is like. To be honest, I think I might quite favour the hide-under-the-duvet option for the rest of my life instead of stepping out not knowing who’s in front of me. Laura is definitely a character to sympathise with, although she does make a few dubious decisions.
This is a suspenseful, twisty psychological thriller that had me glued to the pages. I couldn’t predict the outcome at all and often jumped to the wrong conclusions. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Emma Curtis and I definitely recommend you give her books a go!
After an office Christmas party, Laura wakes up next to a man she’s spent a wonderfully steamy night with. She doesn’t know his name and realises perfectly well she won’t recognise his face. Because Laura has a condition called Prosopagnosia, or face blindness. A condition that sounds rather out there but it’s however a very real thing. At least Laura remembers her bed companion was wearing a pink shirt. Except, the shirt she finds on the floor is blue. Who is this stranger? Before Laura has a chance to find out, the man runs from her flat and now Laura must return to work every day with the knowledge someone took advantage of her condition. How will she find out who he is?
I can’t even begin to imagine how frightening this must be. Laura has multiple coping mechanisms to try and figure out who she’s talking to but they tend to fail when the environment changes. For instance, she’d recognise a colleague at work because of the desk they’re sitting at but wouldn’t know who they are if they were to bump into each other at the supermarket. While I would just look at a face and instantly know who is in front of me, Laura focuses on hair colour, gait and distinctive marks like tattoos. But none of those little tricks are helping her find out who took advantage of her. There’s obviously a bit of a list of suspects. It could be anyone and just like Laura, I was left in the dark as to their identity until the end.
The story is told through alternating chapters, switching between Laura and her boss Rebecca. Apart from Laura’s family, Rebecca is the only one who knows about Laura’s condition. Introducing Rebecca to the story immediately felt incredibly intriguing as I couldn’t at all guess at the part she would play. She’s not really a likeable person but as a plot device, she does help the story along and things will soon make a lot more sense.
Just like the author’s previous book, When I Find You is quite thought-provoking. A tense and realistic scenario that constantly makes you wonder what you would do. Emma Curtis has obviously done her research and I felt she truly managed to show what living with this condition is like. To be honest, I think I might quite favour the hide-under-the-duvet option for the rest of my life instead of stepping out not knowing who’s in front of me. Laura is definitely a character to sympathise with, although she does make a few dubious decisions.
This is a suspenseful, twisty psychological thriller that had me glued to the pages. I couldn’t predict the outcome at all and often jumped to the wrong conclusions. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Emma Curtis and I definitely recommend you give her books a go!
May 17, 2018
With the sheer number of psychological thrillers out there, I always greatly admire an author who can come up with an original premise that hasn’t been done a million times before. Such as giving the main character a medical condition that makes them just a little bit unreliable and casts doubt over the events unfolding. We saw it with the agoraphobic protagonist in Finn’s The Woman in the Window, or S.J. Watson’s character Christine in Before I Go to Sleep, who had suffered a brain injury and couldn’t form memories. Curtis uses the rare condition prosopagnosia, or face blindness, for her main protagonist Laura, and I admit that when I first started reading I had no idea that this debilitating condition could form the basis for such a riveting story – or where exactly the author was going to lead me. Aren’t those mysteries the best kind?
Laura, a creative ad designer in a successful advertising agency, has managed her condition from her work colleagues, even though she struggles with it on a daily basis. There is nothing wrong with her eyesight, but her brain is unable to interpret facial features, which makes her “face blind”, i.e. unable to tell one face apart from another – even those faces of the people nearest and dearest to her, including her own face in the mirror. She heavily relies on other features, such as hairstyle and colour, mannerisms, clothing etc to be able to tell who people are, but these things are changeable and not always reliable. Social situations are her worst nightmare, such as people approaching her in the street or the train, where the context is missing and she has no reference points to help her identify them. When Laura finds herself in a situation where someone exploits her vulnerability to his advantage, it struck me how debilitating her condition really is! Imagine there is a perpetrator out there somewhere, but you are unable to recognise him, even if he sits next to you on the train, chats to you in the canteen, or shows up at a dinner party. It came as no surprise to me that Laura became anxious and neurotic, living in constant fear and suspicion.
Apart from the very original and fascinating concept of face blindness, I found Laura to be an enigmatic and interesting character who courageously fought to overcome her limitations. As Laura shares insights into her daily struggles, it was obvious that Curtis had done her research into the condition, which made for fascinating reading and a story that kept me turning the pages. To turn this into a well-written mystery was an added bonus! I also really enjoyed the two separate POVs in the story – whilst the main part is being told in the first person through Laura’s eyes, her accounts are fleshed out by a third-person account from the perspective of Rebecca, one of Laura’s bosses. I was slightly puzzled at first as two why these two very different women were being chosen to tell the story, but it was perfect!
There are a few well-executed twists in the story which took me by surprise, and the final denouement was satisfying and fitting for this original, character driven story. Overall, I really enjoyed a mystery that stood out from the rest with its intriguing concept, and I look forward to reading more from this author in future.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
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Laura, a creative ad designer in a successful advertising agency, has managed her condition from her work colleagues, even though she struggles with it on a daily basis. There is nothing wrong with her eyesight, but her brain is unable to interpret facial features, which makes her “face blind”, i.e. unable to tell one face apart from another – even those faces of the people nearest and dearest to her, including her own face in the mirror. She heavily relies on other features, such as hairstyle and colour, mannerisms, clothing etc to be able to tell who people are, but these things are changeable and not always reliable. Social situations are her worst nightmare, such as people approaching her in the street or the train, where the context is missing and she has no reference points to help her identify them. When Laura finds herself in a situation where someone exploits her vulnerability to his advantage, it struck me how debilitating her condition really is! Imagine there is a perpetrator out there somewhere, but you are unable to recognise him, even if he sits next to you on the train, chats to you in the canteen, or shows up at a dinner party. It came as no surprise to me that Laura became anxious and neurotic, living in constant fear and suspicion.
Apart from the very original and fascinating concept of face blindness, I found Laura to be an enigmatic and interesting character who courageously fought to overcome her limitations. As Laura shares insights into her daily struggles, it was obvious that Curtis had done her research into the condition, which made for fascinating reading and a story that kept me turning the pages. To turn this into a well-written mystery was an added bonus! I also really enjoyed the two separate POVs in the story – whilst the main part is being told in the first person through Laura’s eyes, her accounts are fleshed out by a third-person account from the perspective of Rebecca, one of Laura’s bosses. I was slightly puzzled at first as two why these two very different women were being chosen to tell the story, but it was perfect!
There are a few well-executed twists in the story which took me by surprise, and the final denouement was satisfying and fitting for this original, character driven story. Overall, I really enjoyed a mystery that stood out from the rest with its intriguing concept, and I look forward to reading more from this author in future.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
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August 16, 2018
Emma has prosopagnosia or 'face-blindness' meaning that she cannot recognise anyone by their face, even close family members. She manages to hide this pretty well at work until the Christmas party when she flirts with a co-worker in a pink shirt and goes home with him - only to find out the next morning that the guy she slept with is wearing a blue shirt. Things ramp up into quite fantastical territory at times, although the twist ending was done well.
As someone who has the opposite issue (I never forget a face) I find the concept of 'face-blindness' intriguing. I think the author did a good job of conveying how disorientating and frightening it must be to not be able to recognise anyone around you, even your parents. The character of Emma was mostly sympathetic and finding out what happened to her kept me reading. The author also makes some points about consent obtained by deception and how rape isn't all about violence.
What brought the rating down for me was the character of Rebecca (one of Emma's bosses). I really didn't care for the chapters narrated by her and although there were several other characters who were also despicable, Rebecca with her two-faced cheating with her friend's husband and trying to trap him with a baby, was just horrible. She really didn't add much to the story except to hang a few plot points on, and it would have been better without her.
Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Random House UK / Transworld Publishers, for the opportunity to review an ARC.
As someone who has the opposite issue (I never forget a face) I find the concept of 'face-blindness' intriguing. I think the author did a good job of conveying how disorientating and frightening it must be to not be able to recognise anyone around you, even your parents. The character of Emma was mostly sympathetic and finding out what happened to her kept me reading. The author also makes some points about consent obtained by deception and how rape isn't all about violence.
What brought the rating down for me was the character of Rebecca (one of Emma's bosses). I really didn't care for the chapters narrated by her and although there were several other characters who were also despicable, Rebecca with her two-faced cheating with her friend's husband and trying to trap him with a baby, was just horrible. She really didn't add much to the story except to hang a few plot points on, and it would have been better without her.
Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Random House UK / Transworld Publishers, for the opportunity to review an ARC.
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August 16, 2018I really enjoyed Emma Curtis's second novel, When I Find You. Laura the main protagonist is face-blind, and after she is assaulted by a man she believed to be someone else she sets out to find him. It's pacey and the characterisation is great. Curtis really ramps up the action at the end so that I was reading it standing up cooking the dinner, eating dinner, and clearing away, just to find out how it ended.
March 17, 2025
When I read this premise I was instantly intrigued because I had never heard of face-blindness before so was really intrigued to read a story about it. The premise sounds like something out of your worst nightmare and I expected this book to be a real... on the edge of your seat psychological thriller, and it just wasn't for me. It was definitely a unique idea for me as a whole, however at times it just felt very predictable and towards the end it went really OTT.
I do think Curtis did a good job of exploring the issues of consent and did portray how horrific it must be thinking your sleeping with someone only to wake up with someone else, however this plot really did drag on for me throughout the middle and the added twist of Laura's colleague Guy being killed in a hit and run just felt unnecessary for me. I get that the reason this was added was to make her boss look even more suspicious, but it seemed pretty obvious to me that the reason he was acting this way was because he'd killed Guy not because he'd attacked Laura. When he went onto kidnap Laura and hold her hostage in his ailing grandparents house it just got utterly ridiculous for me. It just seemed laughable rather than serious. It was almost like we'd switched to another book and no-one had told me.
The reveal of who had actually attacked Laura just felt a bit... cheap to me. Sometimes I find that authors set up the reveal really well with dropping their little crumbs throughout which leads the reader on the journey, but if in the last 20 or so pages they suddenly turn around and go HAHA TRICKED YOU, it just feels cheap to me rather than a shocking twist. That's what this book did for me and it real irked me and felt unnecessary. We don't need more media about women falsely or incorrectly accusing men of assault.
Overall this was an interesting premise but the story just didn't work well for me as a whole.
I do think Curtis did a good job of exploring the issues of consent and did portray how horrific it must be thinking your sleeping with someone only to wake up with someone else, however this plot really did drag on for me throughout the middle and the added twist of Laura's colleague Guy being killed in a hit and run just felt unnecessary for me. I get that the reason this was added was to make her boss look even more suspicious, but it seemed pretty obvious to me that the reason he was acting this way was because he'd killed Guy not because he'd attacked Laura. When he went onto kidnap Laura and hold her hostage in his ailing grandparents house it just got utterly ridiculous for me. It just seemed laughable rather than serious. It was almost like we'd switched to another book and no-one had told me.
The reveal of who had actually attacked Laura just felt a bit... cheap to me. Sometimes I find that authors set up the reveal really well with dropping their little crumbs throughout which leads the reader on the journey, but if in the last 20 or so pages they suddenly turn around and go HAHA TRICKED YOU, it just feels cheap to me rather than a shocking twist. That's what this book did for me and it real irked me and felt unnecessary. We don't need more media about women falsely or incorrectly accusing men of assault.
Overall this was an interesting premise but the story just didn't work well for me as a whole.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2019
This book was a fascinating read for me and it also had an added layer to the story line by dealing with a condition called Prosopagnosia - facial blindness to you and I.
Without going into detail and thus spoiling the story I want to say I felt as a reader more sympathetic towards Laura and her situation and I'm soo glad it wasn't just another 'drunk girl' story line.
I think it's great Emma highlighted this real life condition in her story as it will make people more aware of this and what they can do to help, although in the beginning of the story I did wonder why she wouldn't want her colleagues to know and I can see with hindsight that it would make sufferers of this condition more likely to be put in a position where they are abused by the wrong types of people.
There was at times where the story was slow and dragging on a bit however I found that there was a twist at the end which many people wouldn't have guessed coming and I liked the ending also.
I just hope there is more stories in future where conditions, whatever they are, are highlighted by authors, in doing so I feel like I have been educated by just reading this book! :)
Without going into detail and thus spoiling the story I want to say I felt as a reader more sympathetic towards Laura and her situation and I'm soo glad it wasn't just another 'drunk girl' story line.
I think it's great Emma highlighted this real life condition in her story as it will make people more aware of this and what they can do to help, although in the beginning of the story I did wonder why she wouldn't want her colleagues to know and I can see with hindsight that it would make sufferers of this condition more likely to be put in a position where they are abused by the wrong types of people.
There was at times where the story was slow and dragging on a bit however I found that there was a twist at the end which many people wouldn't have guessed coming and I liked the ending also.
I just hope there is more stories in future where conditions, whatever they are, are highlighted by authors, in doing so I feel like I have been educated by just reading this book! :)
July 7, 2018
Emma Curtis begins her second novel, When I Find You with a really intriguing opening. Laura wakes up the morning after her office Christmas party to find a stranger in her bedroom. Laura suffers from a condition called facial-blindness, also known as Prosopagnosia. She thought she knew who the person was who she brought back to her flat the previous night. Her condition means that she has to be able to recognise certain distinguishing features about a person: what they’re wearing or the colour and shape of their hair, but this isn’t always easy. Now she realises that someone may have taken advantage of her condition and tricked her into sleeping with them. The thought leaves her feeling angry and upset and she tries to uncover who it was who did this to her.
I have only recently become aware of the condition which Emma explores in her latest book. It does make you examine what we take for granted every single day and it did make me think how difficult it must be for people living with the condition. It did make me think how it was going to be possible for Laura to get to the truth which is what made this novel very different.
The novel is told through the perspectives of both Laura and Rebecca, her boss. Rebecca is the only person who knows about Laura’s condition at their office. I think a lot of readers won’t like Rebecca but I didn’t dislike her as much as I thought I would, although she did make some decisions that I didn’t approve of. Both Laura and Rebecca lead very different lives and they are both dealing with their own separate problems. It was interesting to see how they would both collide with each other and this was one of the most gripping aspects of the plot.
As I was reading I kept thinking how horrible it must be for Laura; she has been taken advantage of but she doesn’t know who it was. I think I had my suspicions about everyone in the advertisement agency where she worked and I felt as though I couldn’t trust anyone who worked with her. It does give the novel a unique look at a crime that has taken place, but I could see that Emma had also impeccably researched the condition.
The ending of the book is so chilling. I thought how Emma tied everything up was done well and it makes for a satisfying conclusion. When I Find You was a really enjoyable second novel from Emma Curtis. I’m looking forward to seeing what she writes next. Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
I have only recently become aware of the condition which Emma explores in her latest book. It does make you examine what we take for granted every single day and it did make me think how difficult it must be for people living with the condition. It did make me think how it was going to be possible for Laura to get to the truth which is what made this novel very different.
The novel is told through the perspectives of both Laura and Rebecca, her boss. Rebecca is the only person who knows about Laura’s condition at their office. I think a lot of readers won’t like Rebecca but I didn’t dislike her as much as I thought I would, although she did make some decisions that I didn’t approve of. Both Laura and Rebecca lead very different lives and they are both dealing with their own separate problems. It was interesting to see how they would both collide with each other and this was one of the most gripping aspects of the plot.
As I was reading I kept thinking how horrible it must be for Laura; she has been taken advantage of but she doesn’t know who it was. I think I had my suspicions about everyone in the advertisement agency where she worked and I felt as though I couldn’t trust anyone who worked with her. It does give the novel a unique look at a crime that has taken place, but I could see that Emma had also impeccably researched the condition.
The ending of the book is so chilling. I thought how Emma tied everything up was done well and it makes for a satisfying conclusion. When I Find You was a really enjoyable second novel from Emma Curtis. I’m looking forward to seeing what she writes next. Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
January 6, 2024
When I Find You is an engaging and original thriller that certainly makes you think.
I'm torn about the use of the face-blindness (or prosopagnosia) condition. On one hand, I can see why it's such a regularly used thriller trope, as it adds a unique twist and can allow for multiple misperceptions. But on the other hand, I also think it's quite a cheap trick that allows for too many coincidences, and that the story could have had a lot more to say without it.
Overall, it's the originality that I like about it, and I think it does explore prosopagnosia well enough to warrant its use, giving readers a good understanding of the condition and allowing you to really feel Laura's struggles and stress.
With high suspense throughout, Emma Curtis is definitely a thriller author I want to read more of.
I'm torn about the use of the face-blindness (or prosopagnosia) condition. On one hand, I can see why it's such a regularly used thriller trope, as it adds a unique twist and can allow for multiple misperceptions. But on the other hand, I also think it's quite a cheap trick that allows for too many coincidences, and that the story could have had a lot more to say without it.
Overall, it's the originality that I like about it, and I think it does explore prosopagnosia well enough to warrant its use, giving readers a good understanding of the condition and allowing you to really feel Laura's struggles and stress.
With high suspense throughout, Emma Curtis is definitely a thriller author I want to read more of.
June 4, 2018
I was intrigued by the premise of this book. The protagonist, Laura, is a 28-year old living in London and has Prosopagnosia (face blindness), a real disorder. The plot kicks in when she sleeps with a guy from her work who she thought was someone else i.e. she’s been taken advantage of, raped. Most part of the book is set in her workplace and how she tries to figure out who raped her. The story is narrated in Laura’s first person POV, and alternates with Rebecca’s third person POV. Rebecca is Laura’s Boss and the only person in the office who knows about Laura’s condition. Rebecca is also having an affair with her colleague complicating the plot.
This was a fairly readable book and I enjoyed most of it. However I just found the last 30% went from 3rd gear to 5th gear and I struggled to suspend my disbelief. Also personally for me Rebecca’s narrative was less interesting and bogged down the story for me, which is why I’m giving this a 3.5. Overall an intriguing premise using Prosopagnosia, a condition I hadn’t heard about it in a fresh way, that makes the familiar unfamiliar,
This was a fairly readable book and I enjoyed most of it. However I just found the last 30% went from 3rd gear to 5th gear and I struggled to suspend my disbelief. Also personally for me Rebecca’s narrative was less interesting and bogged down the story for me, which is why I’m giving this a 3.5. Overall an intriguing premise using Prosopagnosia, a condition I hadn’t heard about it in a fresh way, that makes the familiar unfamiliar,
June 6, 2018
I have just read When I Find You.
Laura suffers from face blindness, to give it the correct term, prosopagnosia, something I have never heard off but does exist. Story starts at the office Christmas party when Laura gets off with a guy whose face she cannot remember and he leaves whilst she is in the shower. She cannot put a name to the guy she slept with and he is not making himself known. Laura becomes jittery as she does not like not knowing. Guessing he is a colleague, she sets out to find him using various methods of elimination. There are twists and turns a plenty. Given the characters, I was wrong about who it was. Good unusual thriller. I look forward to Emma Curtis's next book.
Laura suffers from face blindness, to give it the correct term, prosopagnosia, something I have never heard off but does exist. Story starts at the office Christmas party when Laura gets off with a guy whose face she cannot remember and he leaves whilst she is in the shower. She cannot put a name to the guy she slept with and he is not making himself known. Laura becomes jittery as she does not like not knowing. Guessing he is a colleague, she sets out to find him using various methods of elimination. There are twists and turns a plenty. Given the characters, I was wrong about who it was. Good unusual thriller. I look forward to Emma Curtis's next book.
August 26, 2018
WHEN I FIND YOU is a pacy thriller that keeps the reader gripped from the opening lines. Laura is a hugely empathetic character who wakes up the morning after a drunken Christmas office party unable to recognise the man she'd slept with the night before. She's not even sure he's a colleague. Not exactly groundbreaking until you learn that Laura is profoundly face blind and it's possible the man in question has taken advantage of her disability.
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July 26, 2018Emma Curtis' debut novel, One Little Mistake blew me away last year with its smart premise and sophisticated writing so I had very high expectations for her second book, When I Find You. And she doesn't disappoint. Her second book features strong characters and a skilfully crafted plot that will keep you guessing throughout.
Twenty-eight year old Laura Maguire suffers from prosopagnosia or face blindness, relying on other attributes such as the colour of clothing, hairstyles, body language, and mannerisms to distinguish people. She keeps her condition a secret because she's afraid that someone might take advantage of her if they know she can't recognise or identify anyone. Laura works in an advertising company, an environment that relies on appearance and facade. She is responsible for organising and launching campaigns, an ironic profession for her because she avoids social situations as much as possible due to her condition.
Laura is pressured to go to the office Christmas party and celebrates a bit too much, becoming disoriented and confused. She wakes up the next day and discovers that she's not sure who she slept with the night before. She also gets the feeling that she was taken advantage of and starts to question whether she has been raped. She identifies the most likely candidates in her office and starts trying to figure out who abused her. She can't go to the police because she can't describe the person she went home with that night. The only person in the office who knows about Laura's face blindness is her boss Rebecca but Laura wonders who Rebecca might have told or who might use that information against her.
Like in One Little Mistake, two narratives are intertwined with the main character, Laura in this case, telling her story in first person, and another character's story, Rebecca in this case, being told in third person. Here, both narratives take place contemporaneously in the present. At first, it wasn't obvious why Rebecca was narrating because she didn't seem like a very interesting character. However, it soon becomes clear why she was chosen as the different strands and narratives are brought together. The distinction between first and third person are important in this case as Laura is such an introverted character and we are encouraged to identify with her because of her condition. Curtis' sensitive treatment of the condition demonstrates the confusion, vulnerability, and frustration Laura feels and the first person narration makes it all the more palpable and visceral. Although Laura is a flawed character, she is sympathetic nonetheless because she is struggling. Curtis' sensitive treatment of a possible rape is also skilfully done as the book is never gratuitous.
Curtis skilfully crafts the world of the office, the cliques that form, the tension that is created when different personalities work in close proximity, and the rumours and hierarchies that can form within the workplace. Although Laura likes where she works, the book shows how nasty the office environment can be. Laura becomes very suspicious of and paranoid about all the men around her, both in and out of her office and this nervousness is distinctly palpable, demonstrating the strength of Curtis' writing.
Curtis' mastery of the psychological thriller is impressive as dramatic tension is built throughout. In both this book as well as her first, the characters in particular are very unpredictable, making this a very unnerving and enjoyable book. I look forward to Curtis' next book.
Twenty-eight year old Laura Maguire suffers from prosopagnosia or face blindness, relying on other attributes such as the colour of clothing, hairstyles, body language, and mannerisms to distinguish people. She keeps her condition a secret because she's afraid that someone might take advantage of her if they know she can't recognise or identify anyone. Laura works in an advertising company, an environment that relies on appearance and facade. She is responsible for organising and launching campaigns, an ironic profession for her because she avoids social situations as much as possible due to her condition.
Laura is pressured to go to the office Christmas party and celebrates a bit too much, becoming disoriented and confused. She wakes up the next day and discovers that she's not sure who she slept with the night before. She also gets the feeling that she was taken advantage of and starts to question whether she has been raped. She identifies the most likely candidates in her office and starts trying to figure out who abused her. She can't go to the police because she can't describe the person she went home with that night. The only person in the office who knows about Laura's face blindness is her boss Rebecca but Laura wonders who Rebecca might have told or who might use that information against her.
Like in One Little Mistake, two narratives are intertwined with the main character, Laura in this case, telling her story in first person, and another character's story, Rebecca in this case, being told in third person. Here, both narratives take place contemporaneously in the present. At first, it wasn't obvious why Rebecca was narrating because she didn't seem like a very interesting character. However, it soon becomes clear why she was chosen as the different strands and narratives are brought together. The distinction between first and third person are important in this case as Laura is such an introverted character and we are encouraged to identify with her because of her condition. Curtis' sensitive treatment of the condition demonstrates the confusion, vulnerability, and frustration Laura feels and the first person narration makes it all the more palpable and visceral. Although Laura is a flawed character, she is sympathetic nonetheless because she is struggling. Curtis' sensitive treatment of a possible rape is also skilfully done as the book is never gratuitous.
Curtis skilfully crafts the world of the office, the cliques that form, the tension that is created when different personalities work in close proximity, and the rumours and hierarchies that can form within the workplace. Although Laura likes where she works, the book shows how nasty the office environment can be. Laura becomes very suspicious of and paranoid about all the men around her, both in and out of her office and this nervousness is distinctly palpable, demonstrating the strength of Curtis' writing.
Curtis' mastery of the psychological thriller is impressive as dramatic tension is built throughout. In both this book as well as her first, the characters in particular are very unpredictable, making this a very unnerving and enjoyable book. I look forward to Curtis' next book.
October 2, 2018
What do you do when someone takes advantage of your greatest weakness? When Laura wakes up after her office Christmas party and sees a man’s shirt on the floor, she is horrified. But this is no ordinary one-night-stand regret. Laura suffers from severe face-blindness, meaning she cannot identify people or remember faces. So the man she spent all night dancing with and kissing – the man she thought she had brought home – was ‘Pink Shirt’. But the shirt on her floor is blue. Now Laura must go to work every day and face the man who took advantage of her condition. The man she has no way of recognising. She does not know who he is but she will make him pay.
You wait for one unique aspect to come along and then two books feature the same thing. Prosopagnosia. Or facial blindness. ‘The Date’ by Louise Jensen is the other book I am referring to and it is just unfortunate because I happened to read that one before this. I only say unfortunate as when I read ‘The Date’ I was bowled over by the unique aspect and how refreshing and different it felt and I know I would have had the same reaction had I read this first. As it is I still appreciated the shock factor of facial blindness, Curtis does use it slightly differently as well, I just find it bizarre that two books should feature such a similar plot and then come out around the same time as well.
Anyway, back to the plot of ‘When I Find You’ and I thoroughly enjoyed this. There are dark themes running throughout, which I think is clear from the plot description, Curtis then takes us on a horrifying journey with Laura as she slowly starts to find out the truth. I was completely invested in this read, desperate to return to reading it and I really felt the desperation and intenseness of the situation. Curtis builds the plot and you just know there is going to be a big climax, and there is, however events turn a little farcical, a bit too much happens in a way I am not sure would play out in real life, made the book more exciting mind you but perhaps lost a tad of credibility.
Curtis has written this from the perspective of Laura and Rebecca, her boss. I enjoyed both perspectives, both gave an understanding to the woman and they prove to be two women who are interesting to get to know. The only thing I would say is it seems a bit odd to have chapters from Rebecca’s perspective, I thought it was and then I could only thing of one reason why Curtis would do this, I was then proven right, in a way it acted as a plot spoiler for me, a bit of a shame but nothing major.
‘When I Find You’ is a dark, gripping thriller with a leading lady that you cannot help but like. I enjoyed this read and the element of face- blindness only adds to the sense of danger that exists in the book.
You wait for one unique aspect to come along and then two books feature the same thing. Prosopagnosia. Or facial blindness. ‘The Date’ by Louise Jensen is the other book I am referring to and it is just unfortunate because I happened to read that one before this. I only say unfortunate as when I read ‘The Date’ I was bowled over by the unique aspect and how refreshing and different it felt and I know I would have had the same reaction had I read this first. As it is I still appreciated the shock factor of facial blindness, Curtis does use it slightly differently as well, I just find it bizarre that two books should feature such a similar plot and then come out around the same time as well.
Anyway, back to the plot of ‘When I Find You’ and I thoroughly enjoyed this. There are dark themes running throughout, which I think is clear from the plot description, Curtis then takes us on a horrifying journey with Laura as she slowly starts to find out the truth. I was completely invested in this read, desperate to return to reading it and I really felt the desperation and intenseness of the situation. Curtis builds the plot and you just know there is going to be a big climax, and there is, however events turn a little farcical, a bit too much happens in a way I am not sure would play out in real life, made the book more exciting mind you but perhaps lost a tad of credibility.
Curtis has written this from the perspective of Laura and Rebecca, her boss. I enjoyed both perspectives, both gave an understanding to the woman and they prove to be two women who are interesting to get to know. The only thing I would say is it seems a bit odd to have chapters from Rebecca’s perspective, I thought it was and then I could only thing of one reason why Curtis would do this, I was then proven right, in a way it acted as a plot spoiler for me, a bit of a shame but nothing major.
‘When I Find You’ is a dark, gripping thriller with a leading lady that you cannot help but like. I enjoyed this read and the element of face- blindness only adds to the sense of danger that exists in the book.
September 16, 2018
A book I sped through in a day, as from about the halfway point I just couldn’t put it down. This book addresses similar themes to another book I read last month (Louise O’Neill’s Asking For It) albeit in a very different framing as that one is more emotional, while this is an out-and-out thriller. The way in which face-blindness was written as the central narrative was done well, it felt as though the author had done a good amount of research into the condition and the potential issues that sufferers face.
The story itself is written in alternating points of view between the main character Laura (who narrates in first person) and her boss Rebecca (who narrates in third). I’m presuming that these two narrators were selected because at the start of the book they are the only ones who know of Laura’s face-blindness, to give us a feel of how Laura feels vs. how others may see her. Initially I didn’t understand why she didn’t reveal her condition at least to her closest colleagues, as that would have made her life so much easier, but after what transpired with the perpetrator being known to be someone close to her, I did see her concerns in revealing her vulnerability. The storyline is also very cleverly written, as I thought the twist had come and gone, but then there was a proper twist that came when I least expected. In hindsight and with all the pieces fitted together, there was a glaring inconsistency in what I thought was the answer to the puzzle, but it didn’t occur to me until afterwards.
My only real qualm with this book is the distraction of several plotlines that I thought were rather unnecessary, most prominently the bit about the grandparents. Other than to effectively force 3 of the characters to be together with each other for a few chapters, and with their house providing some setting for other events which transpired (could well have been anywhere else though!) I was rather irritated by both the grandparents and wanted the story to get a move on. The other thing I thought was completely unnecessary is trying to portray Laura as someone who leads different men on (or “being a tease”, in the author’s words) – not sure what purpose this was meant to serve. Still, it was a great thriller from a relatively new author, I’ll be looking to get hold of a copy of her first book and am looking forward to her future works. 5 stars.
The story itself is written in alternating points of view between the main character Laura (who narrates in first person) and her boss Rebecca (who narrates in third). I’m presuming that these two narrators were selected because at the start of the book they are the only ones who know of Laura’s face-blindness, to give us a feel of how Laura feels vs. how others may see her. Initially I didn’t understand why she didn’t reveal her condition at least to her closest colleagues, as that would have made her life so much easier, but after what transpired with the perpetrator being known to be someone close to her, I did see her concerns in revealing her vulnerability. The storyline is also very cleverly written, as I thought the twist had come and gone, but then there was a proper twist that came when I least expected. In hindsight and with all the pieces fitted together, there was a glaring inconsistency in what I thought was the answer to the puzzle, but it didn’t occur to me until afterwards.
My only real qualm with this book is the distraction of several plotlines that I thought were rather unnecessary, most prominently the bit about the grandparents. Other than to effectively force 3 of the characters to be together with each other for a few chapters, and with their house providing some setting for other events which transpired (could well have been anywhere else though!) I was rather irritated by both the grandparents and wanted the story to get a move on. The other thing I thought was completely unnecessary is trying to portray Laura as someone who leads different men on (or “being a tease”, in the author’s words) – not sure what purpose this was meant to serve. Still, it was a great thriller from a relatively new author, I’ll be looking to get hold of a copy of her first book and am looking forward to her future works. 5 stars.
September 19, 2018
Suffering from face blindness, prosopagnosia, Laura finds it difficult to navigate life.
What an interesting and absorbing read When I Find You is. I confess it took me a while to rid myself of the simple question of why Laura didn’t simply tell everyone about her condition so that she didn’t need to struggle to identify them so much. Once I had finished reading this complex, well researched and totally twisty narrative, I understood perfectly. What a devastating condition! I loved the way Emma Curtis educated me as well as entertained me.
But not only did When I Find You educate and entertain me, it perplexed me and made me think too. I had to change my mind about the perpetrator of the crime several times over, and more importantly I think, I had to consider what constitutes consensual sexual intercourse and how far Laura could be said to be to blame for what happens to her. I’ve finished When I Find You feeling rather unsettled and that is no bad thing at all.
I really enjoyed the writer’s style as Emma Curtis balances Laura, Rebecca and David so perfectly. None is perfect and the reader is made to see how easy it is to commit an untruth at best and a serious crime at worst as our lives are so often at the mercy of others. I thoroughly enjoyed the insight into corporate and family life too as Emma Curtis touches on love and loyalty, secrets and lies, honesty and the concept of belonging and feeling alienated regardless of the effect of Laura’s condition. This may be a thriller but it is also a book about humanity.
However, all the well researched medical conditions and fascinating themes aside, what the reader actually has here in Emma Curtis’s When I Find You is a fantastic, manipulative and heart- thumpingly good story. As the story raced to its conclusion I had no idea how it might actually resolve itself as my guesses along the way had been wrong.
I took When I Find You on a trip and it was perfect holiday reading, making me look at those around me in a whole new light! I really recommend it.
What an interesting and absorbing read When I Find You is. I confess it took me a while to rid myself of the simple question of why Laura didn’t simply tell everyone about her condition so that she didn’t need to struggle to identify them so much. Once I had finished reading this complex, well researched and totally twisty narrative, I understood perfectly. What a devastating condition! I loved the way Emma Curtis educated me as well as entertained me.
But not only did When I Find You educate and entertain me, it perplexed me and made me think too. I had to change my mind about the perpetrator of the crime several times over, and more importantly I think, I had to consider what constitutes consensual sexual intercourse and how far Laura could be said to be to blame for what happens to her. I’ve finished When I Find You feeling rather unsettled and that is no bad thing at all.
I really enjoyed the writer’s style as Emma Curtis balances Laura, Rebecca and David so perfectly. None is perfect and the reader is made to see how easy it is to commit an untruth at best and a serious crime at worst as our lives are so often at the mercy of others. I thoroughly enjoyed the insight into corporate and family life too as Emma Curtis touches on love and loyalty, secrets and lies, honesty and the concept of belonging and feeling alienated regardless of the effect of Laura’s condition. This may be a thriller but it is also a book about humanity.
However, all the well researched medical conditions and fascinating themes aside, what the reader actually has here in Emma Curtis’s When I Find You is a fantastic, manipulative and heart- thumpingly good story. As the story raced to its conclusion I had no idea how it might actually resolve itself as my guesses along the way had been wrong.
I took When I Find You on a trip and it was perfect holiday reading, making me look at those around me in a whole new light! I really recommend it.
July 15, 2018
Originally posted on https://josbookblog.co.uk/
Face-blindness, or Prosopagnosia, is a condition that I didn’t know much about going into this novel, other than it being an inability to recognise faces. I’d never really thought beyond this, in terms of the impact that this condition would have on a person and those close to them, and the difficulties it would cause in everyday life. It’s something that Curtis has researched thoroughly for this novel, and I thought that she brought Laura’s daily struggles to life brilliantly, including the question of whether or not to tell people. It’s a real dilemma – if people know, they can introduce themselves when they speak to you, but there’s always going to be the one bad egg who will take advantage of the condition.
Of course, this is the situation Laura finds herself in after he office Christmas party when she realises the morning after that the man she took home with her is not the man she had been canoodling with all evening, the difference highlighted by the colour of the shirt she finds on the floor. Coward that he is, he does a runner before she can confront him, and she is left to work out who it was, why they would commit such an act, and how they knew, given that she has only told her boss, Rebecca – no one else knows. And Laura feels unable to report the incident to the police, fearing that they won’t believe her “sorry, officer, I don’t who he was because I don’t recognise faces”. Laura is left in a situation of not knowing who she can trust, and takes the only option available to her in not trusting anyone, attempting to cope on her own.
Laura’s character is one that it’s so easy to get behind. Her ways of coping with her condition show such determination, and whilst her intent to take her revenge on the culprit, once she works out who it is, maybe isn’t entirely advisable, I couldn’t help but admire her spirit, and I wanted her to succeed. I think that Laura also inspired sympathy in the way that those around her treat her. Most don’t know about her face-blindness, and so find her to be anti-social and standoffish, but even Rebecca is unsympathetic towards her, and makes things harder for Laura than they need to be. It has to be said that the other characters in the novel, for the most part, aren’t all that likeable, making it easier to support Laura in her quest for revenge.
When I Find You is an incredibly fast-paced story, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. I thought I’d been really clever in working it out, and whilst I got some elements right, the final twist was absolutely brilliant, and completely unexpected. This is a fantastically original thriller, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
Face-blindness, or Prosopagnosia, is a condition that I didn’t know much about going into this novel, other than it being an inability to recognise faces. I’d never really thought beyond this, in terms of the impact that this condition would have on a person and those close to them, and the difficulties it would cause in everyday life. It’s something that Curtis has researched thoroughly for this novel, and I thought that she brought Laura’s daily struggles to life brilliantly, including the question of whether or not to tell people. It’s a real dilemma – if people know, they can introduce themselves when they speak to you, but there’s always going to be the one bad egg who will take advantage of the condition.
Of course, this is the situation Laura finds herself in after he office Christmas party when she realises the morning after that the man she took home with her is not the man she had been canoodling with all evening, the difference highlighted by the colour of the shirt she finds on the floor. Coward that he is, he does a runner before she can confront him, and she is left to work out who it was, why they would commit such an act, and how they knew, given that she has only told her boss, Rebecca – no one else knows. And Laura feels unable to report the incident to the police, fearing that they won’t believe her “sorry, officer, I don’t who he was because I don’t recognise faces”. Laura is left in a situation of not knowing who she can trust, and takes the only option available to her in not trusting anyone, attempting to cope on her own.
Laura’s character is one that it’s so easy to get behind. Her ways of coping with her condition show such determination, and whilst her intent to take her revenge on the culprit, once she works out who it is, maybe isn’t entirely advisable, I couldn’t help but admire her spirit, and I wanted her to succeed. I think that Laura also inspired sympathy in the way that those around her treat her. Most don’t know about her face-blindness, and so find her to be anti-social and standoffish, but even Rebecca is unsympathetic towards her, and makes things harder for Laura than they need to be. It has to be said that the other characters in the novel, for the most part, aren’t all that likeable, making it easier to support Laura in her quest for revenge.
When I Find You is an incredibly fast-paced story, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. I thought I’d been really clever in working it out, and whilst I got some elements right, the final twist was absolutely brilliant, and completely unexpected. This is a fantastically original thriller, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
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